The 20-year-old has hardly played in the last three months and missed some big chances in the first half to extend his goalless start at the club whilst on loan from Brighton in January. Potter brought off Ferguson and Guilherme at the break and spoke to Sky Sports about how a change was needed to provide firepower up front.
“We weren’t happy with the overall performance in the first half,” said Potter. “We had a good chance to score (through Ferguson), which we didn’t take.
“In the first half, we were pushed back too much so we had to adjust at half-time, which we did and we were a lot better in the second half.”
Potter praised his replacement, Niclas Fullkrug which will have rubbed salt in the wounds for Ferguson who has never really got started in East London.
“We were happy for Fullkrug to get 45 minutes,” said Potter. “The more he plays, the better he will get but overall we’re disappointed.
“We’ve been building him up and he’s been working hard. We’ve had to do some work with him behind closed doors to get him the match time. You can’t replicate the Premier League but credit to him on how he’s been and his ability to influence the game like he did.
“You can see he gives us a different option which we haven’t had. He helps us be more direct and more vertical. I’ve been very impressed with him. His attributes include touch, intelligence and quality around the box. He’s going to help us a lot.”
The Irons are without a win in their last three after looking like they may have turned a corner with back-to-back wins for the first time in a year against Arsenal and Leicester and captain Jarrod Bowen was adamant that his side would not let this season fall a part.
“We don't want to have one of those ends of the season where we just let it fizzle out.
“We still have a lot of football to be played, still a lot of points to be made and that's down to us to do it.”